When Worlds Collide
by Jademagic
Summary: When six mysterious children are put under the care of the Justice League by Nightwing, the Justice League learns a few lessons that can only be taught by children.


Disclaimer: ::runs away screaming from angry lawyers, FBI, etc:: 

Ishan: I knew that if we were just patient enough, one day, someone would get rid of her for us... 

AN: This is in response to Child-of-the-Dawn's challenge. What evil shall come from it, I have no idea as of yet.... 

*Arriving* 

 "...then J'onn, you and Hawkgirl can come in here-"

 "Superman," Shayera interrupted him as he went over the blue prints. She rested one hand on Clark's. "Superman, I'm tired of fighting; and what about the children? We don't know when they might attack the Watchtower, which they are capable of doing, and then, what will happen to the children? We need to take them someplace safe."

"You mean if they attack," Clark mumbled. "There' no guarantee that they will in fact attack." 

 "Yes, there is, and I, too, am afraid I must fear for the children's safety," J'onn replied in response to Clark's half-hearted argument. 

Clark's face fell. "You're right, of course; but I just don't think I could let Richard and Raven go; I'll miss them much too much." 

"I know; I'll miss Ishan," Shayera replied.

 "But they will be much safer if they were sent somewhere else," J'onn said again. 

Bruce finally spoke up. "But how will they protect themselves? The oldest is only seven, and the youngest but five; how are they supposed to protect themselves?!?!" They all knew this was as close as he was going to get to saying that he was going to miss Bryant; in front of them, anyway; they all knew that the children were quite capable of taking care of themselves.

 "'I strongly resents such an idiotic statement, my dear sir, especially coming from one as know ledged of us as you,'" J'onn said suddenly. The others regarded this as normally as if it had been said by the person who thought it- that person being a small boy standing in the door in front of said children- two girls and three boys who looked older than him- as he moved his wings irritably and shook his head in a manner that caused his long hair to seem to be blowing in a breeze. 

Shayera smiled at the look on the boy's face as he unknowingly played with the earrings in his ears. "Come over here, Ishan," she told the boy kind heartedly. His face immediately brightened and he hopped into the Shayera's lap. She hugged him tightly before he hopped down and took a seat in on of the three empty chairs around the table. A girl and a boy, who both looked relatively alike, ran to Clark, the girl's long black hair flowing behind her. Another boy with midnight black hair and blue eyes that looked much too serious and much to full of knowledge and strong feelings to belong to the six year old walked purposely to Bruce and sat down in a chair much too big for him; it was Diana's chair.

"And what of Colton and Christina?" Bruce gestured to the remaining kids: a pair of twins that sadly sat in Wally's chair, but put on broad smiles when everyone looked towards them, though the smiles didn't reach their clear blue eyes. "Have they not suffered enough? They don't even remember their father! They haven't seen him since they couldn't even walk!" 

 "Have I not seen my mother since I was as young as they? And do you remember when they took you when I was only four? I remember; you were only gone for a few months, but it might as well been as long as my mother was gone as upset as I was," interjected the six year old sitting to his side. Bruce's face fell.

"'And what of my father; is he not too gone?'" J'onn said suddenly. Ishan was staring at the ground –something he didn't often do.

"All the more reason to send them some place safe and get them back," Shayera replied quietly as J'onn ran his fingers through Ishan's hair that was a strange combination of red and black, quite long, and pulled into a ponytail that went down his back between his wings before carefully picking up Christina and Colton, ruffling their golden hair and giving them both a gentle hug. "Besides, they can take care of themselves just as well as we can, if not, perhaps, better." J'onn gently bounced them on his lap even though they were getting a little too big.

"We have no choice." Bruce looked sadly at the serious child sitting in Diana's chair that seemed to swallow him into its depths. For just a moment, everyone could see through his Dark Knight façade as easily as if they could have seen his face if he had taken off his cowl, and all that was there was a deep feeling of sadness.

**********************

"Promise me you'll be good; if you're not, you'll be in so much trouble when you get home, it won't even be funny." Shayera smiled as she checked Ishan's bag again.

"He promises," J'onn answered for the five year old and Ishan grinned slightly as him. "I hope that you will not have had any trouble with getting the me that you will encounter to interpret for you...I can only hope that I will have understood your wanting to not speak..." J'onn smiled warmly as Ishan smiled back at Shayera and him. He hugged her one more time, holding on tightly as if he wasn't planning on letting go, but that was what he did as he turned away and walked steadily to Nightwing, careful to make sure no one saw his wet eyes.

Bryant irritably pulled at the sleeves on his jacket; the fleece was really irritating his skin.

Bruce stepped toward him and pulled the sleeves back down in a finalizing way. "Do-not-let-me-have-seen-your-bracelets-got it?" Bruce told him in his voice that he usually reserved for Batman.

"Is that really the last thing you want to have said to me?" Bryant asked as he tried to look as if this weren't bothering him any more than an all day field-trip; really, he wanted to hop into Bruce's arms and never leave. 

Bruce looked Bryant over critically before holding his hand out. "The picture," he told him swiftly.

"I would have to be stupid to take that back with me; then you'd have definitely found out who I was, bracelets or no," Bryant responded tartly. Bruce frowned, then turned on his heel and walked up the steps and out of the bat cave. As soon as he was out of sight, he reached in his pocket and pulled out the picture in question; it was a picture of an older man who looked exactly like Bryant; his father. Beside him was a woman with dazzling blue eyes, and in her arms was a small boy who looked almost a year old; he had jet black hair and laughing blue eyes that reflected his mother's; the man was his father; the woman was his mother; the boy was his brother. Richard watched as Clark picked up Raven and swung her around easily, causing her to squeal with delight. He picked Richard up, too, and hugged both of them tightly.

"You're killing me!" shouted Raven and Richard laughed with his sister.

"I have to make it last for a long time, don't I?" Clark asked as they hugged him back. He let them go and they stood beside Ishan and Bryant. Colton hugged his sister to him and then checked her bag again; just to be sure.

Clark approached all of them. "Now I want you to understand something; Colton, Christina, Bryant, you're all going to see Flash and Wonder Woman again." Their faces immediately brightened up. "But, you cannot let them see you react to seeing them, and you must not show the others your sadness when they must leave." Their faces fell, but they nodded to show they understood. "And Ishan," the boy purposely turned away. "It's most important for you to not to say anything that would seem out of ordinary to GL; we've decided it would be easier on all of you if it were easier on you; and it would be easiest on you if he were there, correct?" Ishan looked up.

"He has no comment, Superman," J'onn informed him. Clark sighed and stood back.

"They're all yours, Nightwing," Shayera told the man standing beside the six children. He nodded as did the children, and in a flash of blinding light, they were gone.

***********************

"I don't know; maybe it's more like what the future will hold. At least, some of it..." Shayera told the rest of the Justice League as they gathered around the screen and read reports from the alternate universe with the Justice Lords.

"Yeah, and their Hawkgirl and Green Lantern seemed to be pretty close, huh buddy?" John was too busy lost in his own thoughts._ Why did I hesitate? The others had to have seen it...this wouldn't have been such a big deal if this were the first time I'd let feelings get in the way...Why the hell is it like this? I'm supposed to be immune to this type of thing...I was a Marine, for crying out loud!_

"I said, 'that Lord Hawkgirl and Green Lantern seemed to be pretty close, huh buddy?'" Wally repeated. Wally nudged his best friend who immediately turned a nice maroon shade.

John picked Wally up by the collar and Shayera waved her mace in his face. "Just one more word, buddy," John said through gritted teeth.

"You guys...you might want to see this," J'onn interrupted as Shayera was about to say something. They looked back toward the computer and John promptly dropped Wally who was too shocked by what he saw on screen to think to get back up. On screen were seven different articles from one of the newspapers in the Lords' universe. In each article, there was picture of a child along with their name and short passage about them.

Bruce stared at the first one; it was a picture of a little girl with long, ebony hair and laughing blue eyes. They way she looked reminded him slightly of someone else, but who, he couldn't put his finger on at the moment. According to her birthday, she was eleven years old; she was also missing. But the thing that caught his attention most was her name: Jessica Diane Wayne. The others looked at Bruce shocked. They turned their attention back to the screen, but by then, Bruce had switched it and was currently accessing the Justice Lords' Watchtower.

"Batman?" The GL on screen asked in a surprised manner. "Didn't expect to hear from you so soon. You know, for an undercover, non-powered superhero in a world with crime plus being a rich, playboy bachelor during the day, you sure have a lot of free time on your hands." GL chuckled.

"Who are they?" Bruce asked. He'd put the picture back on screen in another window so that he could see GL and the articles at the same time. GL's face looked considerably downcast.

"How did you find that?" GL looked anything but happy.

"Who are –"

"Mommy!" Bruce was interrupted by a small girl who came hurtling into view. She jumped on GL and looked back at the Justice League with dark green eyes. "Is that the League? Where's Mom?" The little girl readjusted herself in GL's lap. Somehow, she gave them the impression that she knew a lot more about things than she regularly let on.

GL sighed. "Yes, Sarah; that's the League; and I don't know where your mom is. Why don't you go ask –" He was interrupted as two red-haired children stepped into sight.

"Is that them?" the boy and girl asked at the same time.

"Yes," Sarah told them.

"Why don't you guys go talk with your Aunt Diana?" Lord John suggested. Sarah ruffled her light brown hued wings, but didn't move.

"That's an uncommon color for a Thanagarian's wings; almost as uncommon as blond haired Thanagarian," Shayera commented.

"I know; my mother told me." Sarah tucked in her wings as GL lifted her up and sat her on a chair. Lord Bruce entered just then, and without saying a word, commanded the twins to do the same as Sarah.

"I see you've met Barry, Sarah, and Marcie," Batman said gravely. "I see you've also found pictures of them, my daughters, and the rest of the Justice League children."

"Daughters?!?" Bruce looked slightly surprised. He looked among the articles until he found another girl with the name Wayne. "Their mother?"

"What about my mother?" A mini-Diana walked in, tugging the Lord Wonder Woman after her.

"Don't look so surprised, Batman," another girl commented. She had just entered the room and was dragging her little brother behind her. Clark sharply took in a breath as the boy came into view; saying that the boy resembled Clark would have been an understatement; the boy looked exactly like Clark.

"It's not very becoming," Sarah added. She moved over so that the boy could sit beside her; when he sat down, the League finally noticed that her skin was slightly darker than the other children's.

"Sarah," GL said in a warning tone, turning away from the screen full of shocked superheroes.

"Sorry, Dad," Sarah replied.

"What did I tell you, huh?" Wally asked half-heartedly from where he still laid on the floor behind a beet-red Shayera and a very purple John. J'onn had a slightly bemused look on his face; Shayera was clutching her mace tightly; John was still standing in disbelief; Wally had finally gotten up so that he could get a better look at the children; Bruce leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling of the Batcave; Diana just kept muttering 'Great Hera' over and over again; Clark looked like a small newborn could have easily blown him over.

"Back to my original concern; where did you get those?" GL acknowledged the articles again.

"I was looking for information on you in your universe, and I happened to stumble across these." Bruce was looking over the photos thoroughly. "Tell me, Batman; I see little Jordan here; where's her sister?" Lord Batman's mouth drew itself into a small taut line; Lord Wonder Woman's head dropped, causing her now long hair to cascade in front of her sad face; Jordan jumped up, her icy blue eyes locking onto Bruce's face.

"Don't...ever...mention...my...sister," The six year old said. GL immediately grabbed her and handed her back to her father who held her close as she cried onto his black uniform.

"I'm sorry; I just wanted to know," Bruce replied; and he genuinely was. He watched the way everybody on the screen suddenly seemed downcast.

"Yeah, well...we don't talk about it much; it gets Jordan upset..." Sarah told him as she leaned on the boy's shoulder.

"I don't think we ever formally introduced ourselves formerly..." the boy said quickly as he brushed one of the little trestles of dark red hair out of Sarah's face. "I'm Calvin Elliot Kent; I'm eight. That's my sister; her name is Leighanne Kent; she's the third oldest. The twins are Barry and Marci West; they're the oldest."

"Isn't their father dead?" Bruce asked. The others still hadn't said a word.

"Yes, but you see," Calvin stood up and strode over to where GL was sitting. "When Flash was killed, we didn't know that his fiancé was pregnant; we didn't find out until my sister was born about a year after them; it was hard to track them down because their parents hadn't been married when he died, and none of our parents except for GL had ever been told who their mom was –it was difficult, but we persuaded their mother it was for the best they stay at the Watchtower with their Godfather." Calvin cast a glance at GL. "You know who Jordan is, and you know who Sarah Stewart is; that's all of us..."

"Seven." The others looked at Bruce. "How ironic...; there are exactly seven children; two boys, five girls;"

"I still don't know why you were checking in on us; we have managed to restore peace here, as well as rights, liberty, and freedom; why would you feel the urge to check on us?" GL asked.

"Because he did," Lord Batman answered, still holding his daughter close. No one asked anymore questions. Diana shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another; she was perplexed.

"There's one thing I don't understand; how? It hasn't been even a year since we were there, yet it seems that over a decade has passed."

"Their universe must be on a different time stream; only logical explanation; it's quite possible that all of this could have happened in such a short time to us, Princess," John told her.

The Lord GL nodded. "If that's all, we need to be going; I was working on something important before you interrupted..."

"Pertaining to Jessica?" John asked. GL's eyes glowed suddenly. "Yes; and as soon as we find out where she is, whoever took her there is going to be very, very sorry they so much as ever heard the name Jessica Diane Wayne." With that, he cut the link, the last view of him holding his own daughter as if she would suddenly disappear into thin air.

The League stood in complete shock at what they had just encountered. John carefully avoided both Shayera's and Wally's eyes as was Bruce avoiding Diana's; J'onn continued to watch with slight amusement and suddenly found himself wishing that he had some Oreos; he highly preferred them to popcorn during a movie, and this was better than anything he had ever seen on TV before...

"Man, and this day started off normal! Well, as normal as you can get with us... Could today get anymore strange?" John mused. Just then, a blinding flash appeared in the middle of them, and they formed a group around it, poised for attack when seven figures came into vision.

Six were relatively small, like children, but the last was as tall as Wally, and looked almost like he was a young man. The young man in question tossed his black hair out of his face and looked around the Batcave and at the Justice League. He let his eyes roam (they guessed; they couldn't really tell behind the mask) until his eyes met Batman's form.

"Dad! Long time no see!"


End file.
